In recent years articles such as bottles, have been secured with cartons in groups within a case. In one particular application, the case contains twenty-four bottles and four plastic cartons are forced down over the top of the bottles so that each of the cartons secures six bottles together. The cartons are provided with holes in a main body portion which are inserted over the tops or necks of the bottles and when pressed down over the bottles firmly grip the bottles and hold them in packages. Finger openings are also provided in the main body portion of the cartons so that the packages can be readily removed from the case. In most operations, the cases are cardboard boxes, however, they may be constructed by any conventional material such as plastic or wood.
Heretofore, the cartons were positioned in stacks adjacent one end of the machine and vacuum gripping devices were utilized for gripping two of the cartons simultaneously from two adjacent stacks onto a chute that carries the carton to the bottles. One problem with such vacuum devices is that sometimes a positive grip is not obtained and the cartons are dropped while they are being moved to the chute that carries them to the bottle, or are not pulled from the stack. Furthermore, if there is not a firm and positive gripping relationship between the vacuum mechanism and the carton, the carton would tend to slip relative to the vacuum cap and not be properly positioned when deposited on the chute. Many things could cause this problem, for example, when the vacuum caps begin to wear the reliability of the gripping action decreases.
After the plastic cartons have been positioned on top of the bottles carried within the case they have to be pressed down securely over the neck of the bottle in order to produce a secure package. In one particular machine a roller having recesses in its periphery is used for pressing the plastic cartons down over the top of the bottle. One problem encountered in this method is that if the roller is not properly positioned relative to the bottles carried in the case, the carton and in particular the portion of the carton extending around the end bottles, will not be pressed down over the bottles the entire extent and when the package is lifted, the loose bottles will drop out of the package.